Innovation in Education?

I have tried to distance myself from local education reporting. While on the one hand I am drawn to it, I also feel a strong reaction to those not clearly articulating the day to day interactions of teachers and students in the classroom. Everyone has a solution to a problem they feel a part of. Today I read the editorial Innovate Washington State's K-12. First off, a few things...

1) My wife is Nationally Board Certified, and I plan to go through the process. I believe it to be highly rigorous, and an intense process where you demonstrate your effectiveness as a teacher.
2) I fully believe I work in a relatively innovative district... it is a rigorous evaluation process, standards based, lots of technology, and high academic achievement.
3) I know I am not the best I can be... Gladwell's 10,000 hours rule applies. I'm getting better everyday, and am constantly improving. But I don't think I am great, and definitely not the greatest of those in my building... experience does matter (although not necessarily linearly).

I took a significant amount of umbrage with some of the editorial. I fired of the following email, largely because the editorial lacked the innovation I felt like it would have brought. That doesn't even mention some of the the lack of harmony in the message. Alas.

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Hi Robin,

I read your editorial in the Seattle Times today and was struck by a number of things. First, I should tell you that I am a third year teacher in the Lake Washington School District. I'm one of the "junior teachers" you mention in your editorial. I couldn't help but wonder about about my future pursuit of National Board Certification. On one hand you state that "there is no credible evidence that they help boost student achievement" when talking about Nationally Board Certified teachers. This is after arguing that students need to be around high-quality teachers because it "is the key ingredient to student success." Doesn't this seem incongruous? Is going through a rigorous process to reflect on teaching practice that is reviewed nationally not proof of being high-quality? If you are stating that the stipend doesn't help students then you point is unclear, and needs further support.

I was also struck by how short-sighted reducing teacher professional development days seems. You should know that teachers often feel unappreciated, underpaid, and isolated from their peers. Reducing two days where teachers can come together as a community to collaborate would further isolate teachers. As one of the junior teachers, I appreciate the opportunity to learn from my senior counterparts and feel like I am a part of a community. That doesn't even mention the opportunity to further my own practice (shouldn't a teacher be a learner also, just as a principal should be a teacher-leader?). Beyond that, please further illuminate what less costly ways we could use to further our practice. Simply offering a cut isn't innovative.

I am all for education reform. Our system has a myriad of flaws. I'm also aware of the economic situation of our state, and the lack of effective revenue streams to fund education (and other state services). But if you want to offer solutions, please offer those that have a sense of what it is like to be in the classroom. Offer solutions that have a sense of the people often best meeting the needs of our kids.

Respectfully,

Pete Hanson
5th Grade Teacher 

Reading Conversations

My social studies/literacy block has migrated exclusively into literacy. I'm really excited about how things are going thus far. We're doing novel study, which is really another way of saying literacy circles, book clubs, or guided reading. The latter of those is the most tenuous, but still fits.

In reality my literacy block is a combination of many different practices. It uses a workshop model, pulling out lessons from the Units of Study for Reading. I have kids writing in journals with stop and jots, or making notes on sticky notes. I conference like I might in the workshop model, or with guided reading. I will take notes in OneNote, having kids give a retelling before some oral reading. I'll follow that up with positives or constructive pieces. I am also using the Guided Reading model of writing about reading, focusing on analyzing texts, making inferences and predictions. Finally it comes together with end of the week book club work where we are talking about books.

Compared to last year I am having kids write less. I used to give kids a Fact Question Response sheet, with another sheet for an element we were working on (setting, character map etc). But I found that to be a bit much. Some kids struggled with the amount of work, or just simply weren't detailed enough. Instead I've found the workshop model to be more successful, and to give me more time to work with kids on what they are reading.

The best part of it all was in my last group today. We were talking about characters and how we describe them. Kids had listed a variety of traits, internal and external. I did a short read aloud from Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat, focusing in on how Lynne Jonell describes Emmy. At a stopping point I had kids turn and talk to describe Emmy thus far. The room erupted in conversation, and kids were excited to describe her, almost as though they couldn't wait to tell their shoulder partner. When we group shared the level of character traits were fantastic. Kids were making connections to characters in other books (unprompted) and able to explain why they thought Emmy embodied a particular trait ("she has a little bit of mischief in her, because you can see she kinda wants to do what the rat is telling her."). I couldn't have been happier.

Studying Fiction

The first three months of school have been devoted to non-fiction. While I have kids reading fiction through our 20 Book challenge and silent reading time, I haven't placed on emphasis on understanding fiction. My goal has been to develop the non-fiction reading skills, and establish continuity with our social studies content. That will change starting Monday.

I am still navigating the Units of Study for Reading. I like elements of the Reader's Workshop while also liking elements of Guiding Readers and Writers. We'll kick off fiction by getting into book clubs (literature circles). With my 75 kids I'll have 7-9 different books I am using simply because of the sheer number of books needed to get this thing going.

The bulk of the work will be around characters. We are going to start with envisioning. To do that we'll be using our journal to write down details from what we read. Towards the end of the week we will also look at timelines of stories, making notches to chart important events. Once we have established some basic elements (characters, setting, first events) we will look a little deeper at characters. In particular we will start to use those characteristics to make predictions, giving evidence rooted in what we know and our connections with the text. The unit is a work in progress, but I am excited to get it moving.

Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key

Jack Gantos recently released Dead End in Norvelt. I've had a few of his books in my classroom, but really hadn't been interested in digging into them. A few weeks back I opted to give Joey Pigza a whirl, wanting to check in on Gantos before reading his more recent work.

The story is about a boy named Joey Pigza who is different than his peers. More specifically, Joey Pigza has ADHD (or ADD, can't remember which) and finds himself getting into trouble. He struggles to control his impulses including swallowing the key to his house (part of a trick he was performing for his classmates). Joey hasn't had the easiest of lives either. His mom and dad left him with his grandma when he was young, with mom returning when he is now in 4th grade. As the story unfolds you watch the struggles of a family trying to keep it together and cope in the midst of difficulties.

There are many layers to this story. The most obvious teaching point is how students who are not "normal" are perceived, and how they perceive themselves. Seeing the world through different shoes could be really impactful with kids. Another layer is how people cope with difficulty. Joey's mom opts to have Joey mix her a drink, as well as giving in to Joey "needing" some candy. Natural questions are: Why does Joey's mom decide to give in to Joey asking for candy? Is that a good thing? What is that doing for Joey in the short-term/long-term? You are left with the feeling that those who struggle are in a lose-lose situation that is difficult to overcome. If nothing else, it provides kids a perspective that they may not have themselves... particularly if they are of a status where struggle is not common.

Rating: 3 out of 5. Better than average and worth reading. Not necessarily a must read, but definitely useful in the classroom.

Be Thankful

We aren't the craftiest group in 5th grade. We tend to stick to academics, and integrate the arts through some projects. Today was our last day before the Thanksgiving break, a short day of 3 hours.

What can you get done in 3 hours? You can get a Thankful Turkey done! We put together turkeys, and had kids paste them on a piece of construction paper. They needed to write the phrase "I am thankful for..." on the top, and then have 5 things they are thankful for on the feathers. The kids were really reflective, and had great things on those wings (school, family, food, the Earth, etc). They also got to put the turkey in a scene, as we integrated a little bit of our art docent lesson from last week (perspective with foreground and background). Seeing kids make scenes where the turkey was sitting on a plate or being chased by a farmer further illustrated the comedy that starts to develop as kids get older. It is a bit more nuanced than the primary grades.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Numeric Grades and Feedback

Everyone has been there. You worked really hard on a paper, a test, a resume, or something. You submit it and wait. What are you waiting for? You are waiting for the thumbs up or thumbs down that tells you whether you did a good job, or tells you where you stand. Was there feedback given aside from the yes/no/a-ok? Did you read it?

My hunch tells me you didn't genuinely read the feedback. You were content with the A, the B or B-, got it, didn't get it. That was enough feedback for you unless you needed to improve it to jump through a hoop. From there you moved on because you had new things to tackle. You're busy and stopping to really read the comments or feedback takes time, as does integrating the feedback into your habits to make change. I could be wrong, and therefore be guilty of projecting my own educational experience on others. But I don't think so.

Typically I drift to the philosophical question: Why is that? Why does that happen? That doesn't move the needle for me. I have a hunch from my own experience, and I'm comfortable going with that for the time being (that hunch: feedback is a critique on your work, and the truth can be hard to face... whether bad or good. It is easier to get the evaluation and move on). What I am concerned with is the following: How do we change habits to get kids to utilize feedback so they can improve their skill set? Said another way, how do we get kids to not worry about the 3 on the top of the paper and to read the comments for understanding? I say "not worry" because embedded in that question is the fact that kids need to know where they are at. At times they need the 2 or 3 on the paper that symbolizes whether they met the standard (and therefore being on the right track). The 3 provides the comfort that comments don't.

I don't see comments and grades as naturally incongruous. I don't think it is an either or debate. As currently constructed they are, but they don't need to be. That's what I want to tackle next.

PhotoStory in Year 2

In my first year I didn't teach kids PhotoStory. I was trying to keep my head above water, and opted for other methods that students could present their work. In year two, particularly once we went 3 to 1 with netbooks, I broke out PhotoStory with the kids. It was mildly successful, although there were some things I needed to do differently. This year I have busted out PhotoStory fairly early on with big dreams of righting some of my previous mistakes.

The Set-Up
We have been reading about a myriad of American Indian Cultural Regions. To me, this presented an opportunity for us to do the following:
1. categorize information (Geography, Natural Resources, Culture, etc)
2. analyze the information for strengths and weaknesses
3. compare and contrast information from different regions

The big question one always have with this sort of thing is: Now what?! I opted to have kids create a PhotoStory persuading others to settle in that region. In doing that, they would need to synthesize all of that information into a persuasive piece.

Differences in Year Two
One of the things I have done differently is providing enough scaffolding leading up to the PhotoStory. Kids need to practice analyzing information in different ways. They need to look for strengths and explain why they are strengths. These can then be used in their PhotoStory. Another change was printing out the storyboard they used. Instead of having kids type into a form I created, I wanted them to be computer-free. This would keep the focus on the narration and content.

The result has been dramatically different (I think...). We aren't finished, but kids are making great strides. They are writing really persuasive pieces that use specific details to describe their assigned region. They are making comparisons that accurately reflect why their region would be more desireable ("Come to the Southwest region where the climate is always warm and dry unlike the Northwest where it rains all the time."). While it is a different cohort, and we aren't done, I'd like to think the scaffolding has helped them be far more successful.